A substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate holds various device files including a process recipe file in which processing conditions and processing procedures are defined. In addition, one management device (hereinafter also referred to as a management system) is connected to a plurality of substrate processing apparatuses at all times so as to process information and device files of the substrate processing apparatuses.
A user of a semiconductor device maker utilizes this management system to manage a device file such as a process recipe file (hereinafter also referred to as a production recipe). Moreover, an engineer of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus maker (hereinafter also referred to as a maintenance worker) performs management of a device file (for example, copying of a device file to another device) by using an external recording medium such as a USB memory. However, due to limitations in the use of external recording media in semiconductor factories and in order to improve work efficiency, maintenance workers also use the management system to manage device files. In this way, in the semiconductor manufacturing field, the management device (hereinafter also referred to as a management system) is utilized to improve the working efficiency.
For example, in the related art, a technique for comparing files of a plurality of apparatuses in batch and correcting differences therebetween has been disclosed. In addition, in the related art, a technique for preparing file groups (bundles of plural files) according to the purpose of use, and comparing the file groups in batch has been disclosed.
However, when a plurality of users and maintenance workers uses a single management system, there are many cases where the users take a priority over the single management system. In these cases the maintenance workers cannot use the management system, which may result in poor work efficiency.